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Bedrich Smetana
' Bedřich Smetana' (2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera The Bartered Bride; for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Homeland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native land; and for hisFirst String Quartet, From My Life. Tossup Questions # This composer included "Innocence" and "Idyll" in his set of eight "Bagatelles and Impromptus." One of this man's works includes a section titled "From" his native land's "Meadows and Forests" and another depicting a retreat into the mountain Blanik after a battle at (*) Tabor. Towards the end of his first string quartet, the music breaks off and is replaced by a low tremolo and a long piercing note by the violin; that gesture represents this composer's hearing loss. A section of one of his works, based on the same folk tune as the Israeli national anthem, depicts the title river which runs through Prague, the Vltava or Moldau. For 10 points, name this composer of the string quartet "From My Life" and the Bohemian nationalist cycle Ma Vlast. # Piano pieces like "Innocence" and "Dejection" form this man's opus 6 collection of bagatelles and impromptus, while his opus 4 and 5 Skizzen, or sketches, were also written for piano. He wrote both a symphonic poem and fanfares based on Shakespeare's Richard III, while the first of this composer's two string quartets is written in e minor and includes an Allegro moderato a la Polka second movement. That work, entitled (*) "From My Life," was written shortly after this man lost his hearing. This composer also wrote a cycle of six symphonic poems, the fourth of which, "From Bohemia's woods and fields," celebrates his nation's countryside, and the second of which begins with a flute solo and depicts the Vltava river, or "Die Moldau." For 10 points, name this Czech composer of Ma Vlast who also created the opera The Bartered Bride. # This composer quoted the protest song "I was sewing millet" in his Piano Trio in G-minor inspired by the death of his daughter after moving to Sweden. His tone poems include Richard III and Hakon Jarl, while he honored the wedding of Emperor Franz Josef in his Triumphal Symphony. In the finale of his first string quartet the music abruptly stops before the violin plays a sustained tremolo symbolizing his deafness. Along with a string quartet subtitled "From My Life", he composed a work with a section inspired by an Amazon saved by Prince Ctirad, titled "Sarka", and that work's first movement is based on the Vysehrad Castle in Prague. For 10 points, name this Czech composer who included "Die Moldau" in his Ma Vlast. # This composer responded to the death of his four year old daughter by writing his opus fifteen piano trio in G minor. This composer's first string quartet ends with a movement whose coda includes a sustained high E natural, representing high-pitched tones ringing in his ears. He composed a symphonic poem depicting the massacre of Ctirad's men by Sarka, as well as a symphonic poem depicting the St. John Rapids, which begins with two flutes representing the two sources of the title river. This composer of a string quartet subtitled "From My Life" wrote a cycle of six nationalistic tone poems about his home country, beginning with one named for the fortress of Vysehrad. For 10 points, name this nineteenth century Czech composer of Ma Vlast, which includes his tone poem "The Moldau." # This composer's choral music included such songs as "The Renegade," and "My Star," but he could also do secular music, as in the Shakespeare Festival March. He wrote a concert etude for piano, On the Seashore, in the same year as his symphonic poem about a vassal of Harold Bluetooth, Hakon Jarl. His final opera, which dealt with a monarch's wish to destroy a legendary dam, was called The Devil's Wall. Both "The Dance of the Comedians" and the aria, "Is it Possible," appear in his opera about Hans' struggle to best Wenzel for the hand of Marie. That work was preceded by the story of Jira in The Brandenburgers in Bohemia. For 10 points, identify this composer whose best known work is composed of such tone poems as "Tabor," "Blanik,"and "The Moldau, and is collectively entitled Ma Vlast.